Path of Ophelia (source: NOAA)

Ex-Hurricane Ophelia brings stormy conditions to the British Isles

Ex-Hurricane Ophelia brought wet weather and gusts exceeding 90 mph to the UK and Ireland on 16th October, the 30th anniversary of the Great Storm of 1987.

The stormy remnants of Ophelia brought windy conditions to many parts, especially northern and western regions, causing widespread damage to infrastructure, uprooting trees, ripping off roofs and causing power outages to 330,000 homes and businesses. Three people were killed in incidents related to the storm, with two being struck by falling trees. It has been declared Ireland’s worst storm on record.

Like many Atlantic storms, Ophelia formed south-west of the Azores, where areas of low pressure often occur – however most systems move towards the Caribbean and the US. In the case of Ophelia however, it was blown northwards. This is unusual but not unprecedented. As it moved northwards from warm, Atlantic waters to the colder waters surrounding Britain it was downgraded, eventually becoming an extratropical storm.

In contrast to the stormy weather bought by ex-hurricane Ophelia, temperatures across large parts of southern and eastern England exceeded 20°C on Monday (the average maximum temperature for England in October is around 14 °C.) The high temperatures were partly due to the influence of ex-Ophelia which brought very warm air from Spain on its eastern flank. Those same southerly winds caused another interesting phenomena, as the sun temporarily changed colour.

Categories: Weather
Tags: Extreme Weather Hurricanes Wind Storms WorldWeather

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